25/07/2012
GCSEs In Ulster-Scots - Strategy Proposal
Northern Irish students could be offered the chance to take exams in Ulster-Scots.
A strategy produced by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) proposes creating GCSEs and A-levels as a way to promote Ulster Scots language and culture in education and the media.
The government development has also produced a similar strategy for promoting the Irish language.
A unit could be set up in the Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) to develop learning and exam materials on Ulster-Scots.
The proposals also include the idea of developing an Ulster-Scots radio station to promote heritage and culture.
Leading Ulster-Scots activist Lord Laird welcomed the strategy, saying it allowed speakers to "cash a cheque" left over from the Good Friday Agreement.
He told the BBC: "Seventeen presidents of the United States came from Ulster. Twelve men stood on the moon and two of them were Ulster men - people whose ancestors a few generations before came from Ulster."
"I had no part in the writing of the Belfast Agreement. But in the Belfast Agreement it says that the Ulster Scots language, culture and heritage has equal status to that of Irish.
"We have found over the years we have not been able to cash in that cheque, for want of a better word, but we are slowly beginning to do this."
According to the Ulster-Scots board, the language is spoken in the Ards peninsula, north Down, County Antrim, County Londonderry and eastern Donegal.
(NE)
A strategy produced by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) proposes creating GCSEs and A-levels as a way to promote Ulster Scots language and culture in education and the media.
The government development has also produced a similar strategy for promoting the Irish language.
A unit could be set up in the Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) to develop learning and exam materials on Ulster-Scots.
The proposals also include the idea of developing an Ulster-Scots radio station to promote heritage and culture.
Leading Ulster-Scots activist Lord Laird welcomed the strategy, saying it allowed speakers to "cash a cheque" left over from the Good Friday Agreement.
He told the BBC: "Seventeen presidents of the United States came from Ulster. Twelve men stood on the moon and two of them were Ulster men - people whose ancestors a few generations before came from Ulster."
"I had no part in the writing of the Belfast Agreement. But in the Belfast Agreement it says that the Ulster Scots language, culture and heritage has equal status to that of Irish.
"We have found over the years we have not been able to cash in that cheque, for want of a better word, but we are slowly beginning to do this."
According to the Ulster-Scots board, the language is spoken in the Ards peninsula, north Down, County Antrim, County Londonderry and eastern Donegal.
(NE)
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